Two-Buck Chuck No More

It was bound to happen. Inflation has caught up to Trader Joe's wildly successful Charles Shaw wines, ten years after "Two Buck Chuck" became a phenomenon. It's been a long time since we've bought a bottle -- go ahead, spend a few more dollars and try some other stuff -- but it's a sad day nonetheless for bargain hunters.

According to the Los Angeles Business Journal (by way of LAist), the price will now be $2.49 a bottle -- still cheaper than on the East Coast, where it sells for $2.99 or more. I guess call it "Two-And-A-Half-Buck Chuck"? Maybe get Ashton, Jon and Angus to promote it? Details from the paper:

“We work hard to have every item in the store at an intersection of quality and price that highlights outstanding value,” said Alison Mochizuki, spokeswoman for Trader Joe’s. “In general, our retail prices change only when our costs change.”

The Monrovia grocer sells about 5 million cases each year of the Charles Shaw brand, owned by Bronco Wine Co., and has sold more than 600 million bottles since it first hit the shelves 11 years ago.

“We’ve held a $1.99 retail price for 11 years. Quite a bit has happened during those years and the move to $2.49 allows us to offer the same quality that has made the wine famous the world over,” Mochizuki said.

In this 2003 Franklin Avenue blog post, we talked to a Napa Valley winery about how "Two-Buck Chuck" was hurting the state's wine industry. The guy we talked to was also bemoaning the coming of Napa's first Trader Joe's. Read all of our Two-Buck Chuck posts here.

Considering Bankruptcy? Well As A Matter of Fact...

Spotted by Ish Entertainment's Michael Hirschorn, who put this on his Facebook page. It was too funny to pass up borrowing: As Tribune looks to get out of bankruptcy, this sticker ad slapped on the front of the L.A. Times today is a little too close for comfort.

Beverly Hills: We Are The 1%

Spotted on Olympic Blvd.: Street art that takes affluent Beverly Hills to task for being home to many of the nation's richest 1 percent. Actually, I wonder if Brandon and Brenda's parents would have qualified; the 1% is quite an exclusive club.

Taking Stock of Occupy LA at City Hall

While participating in CicLAvia on Sunday, the Blogger Toddler 2.0 and I also ventured to the City Hall lawn to see how Occupy LA, now in its second week, is doing. An offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement, the L.A. movement seems to have picked up steam in recent days. CicLAvia conveniently helped as well and likely helped recruit a few more regulars.

Some pics:

Gas Prices Jump Again, But Why?

Where's the outrage? That's what I frequently wonder as I once again pay $4 for a gallon of gas. It wasn't that long ago that gas cost $2 or less per gallon. And if it hit $2, we'd all complain. (Remember those useless gas station boycotts?)

And yet, the oil companies managed to fairly quickly get us all used to the idea of paying nearly $4 a gallon for gas, using the same old tired excuses. And then posting record profits. You gotta hand it to them, it was completely brazen -- and it worked. Mark Lacter over at LA Biz Observed asks the same questions:

Forget about oil prices tumbling - the gasoline market marches to its own, often-mysterious drummers, which is almost always bad news for consumers. It's certainly been that way over the past week: An average gallon of regular in the L.A. area is $3.971, up almost 13 cents, according to the government's survey. Predictably, there are explanations: refinery problems, demand during Labor Day weekend, the storms back east. In the immortal words of Roseanne Roseannadanna, it's always something. The problem with these explanations is that the price of oil has been plummeting for some time (crude futures rose today). Last I checked, you get gas from oil. If oil goes down, you'd expect gasoline to follow. At least you wouldn't expect it to go up 13 cents, right?

Will we ever learn the true secret of gas prices? The world may never know...

Another Shot at Prop. 13

The L.A. Times once again tackles the discriminatory (toward young home owners) Prop 13 --and in his latest column, discusses how Mayor Villaraigosa wants to take it on.

I'm not sure there's much Villaraigosa can do about it, but it's always worth taking another look at Prop. 13 -- particularly the commercial provision, which has allowed businesses to get away with dirt-cheap property taxes for years (while new business owners suffer).

As a relatively new, young homeowner, I of course will forever seethe about the inequities of who pays what. I know I shouldn't do this, because my blood will boil, but I sometimes check out real estate listings on Zillow of mansions that haven't changed hands in a few decades.

Above, this demonstrates how ridiculously uneven the Prop 13 rules are. This home, at 1937 Orchard Lane in La Canada-Flintridge, was recently featured in the Los Angeles Times. It's a 6,105 square feet house on a full acre property. The ask price? $3.4 million. (Zillow, to be fair, says it's worth $2.9 million).

What did the owners pay on property tax in 2010? $7,500. Because the home was assessed at $473,083. That's right. The County says this home is worth less than, say, a tiny 900 square foot shack in Echo Park. On about 2000 square feet of land. This is ridiculous. And exactly why people hold on to their homes for decades.

I don't know what the answer is, but quite simply, it's unfair to a whole generation of young homeowners.

Passing the $4 Gas Threshold

Remember the late 1990s, when gas would occasionally drop below $1 a gallon? There were times when I could fill my entire tank for under $12.

Now, $12 won't even get you quite three gallons. $50 to fill my tank? Sigh.

Big Screen TV Retailer Ken Crane's To Shut Down

Another retailer bites the dust: Ken Crane's, the local electronics store that prides itself as the home of big-screen TVs, is closing for good in 60 days.

Ken Crane's joins bigger chains like Circuit City and The Good Guys, as well as smaller businesses as well, that just couldn't cut the current economic climate. It's particularly sad, knowing that Ken Cranes survived plenty of ups and downs in the past, having first opened in 1948.

Ken Cranes will now liquidate its remaining six stores six in Torrance, Hawthorne, Encino, Pasadena, West Los Angeles and Westminster.

From the press release:

"In the past, we have been able to weather these kinds of economic storms because people tend to stay home more, tap into their home equity, upgrade their home entertainment systems, and wait for conditions to improve," company president Casey Crane said. "Unfortunately, the combination of home foreclosures, tight lending policies and high unemployment combined to create the biggest recession in our company's history."

In April of 2008, Ken Crane's implemented an ambitious "reduction in force," making across-the-board cuts in overhead to maintain its viability, and manage the unprecedented storm of the uncertain economy.

But in January 2010, the company, which operated ten retail locations across Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties, closed four stores and consolidated operations in several areas. Sales volume continued to drop while financing and factoring options became extremely scarce.

"This is unquestionably the most painful business decision our family has ever had to make. We have been a home for employees, a place of trust for our customers and vendors, and a source of pride and leadership among our competitors for many decades. As painful as this is, we plan to end this as fairly as we can for all concerned," noted Crane.

"We may not be the first consumer electronics retailer to close in Southern California, but I sure hope we are the last," he added.

Good Sign for the Economy? "Hooters" is Hiring

The scene outside the Burbank outpost of Hooters on Saturday. Apparently the restaurant was holding open auditions (or whatever you'd call it) for a new round of employees. And me without my short shorts!

Too Many Los Angeles Buildings Have Died In Vain

There are so many heartbreaking tales of historic buildings torn down to make room for something else in Los Angeles that it's hard to remember them all.

But the most depressing of the bunch, of course, are the buildings that are torn down to make room for new development -- but then that new development never comes.

As a result, that empty land stays barren for decades. And those buildings died in vain.

On the Miracle Mile, for example, a condo building was finally recently erected where the art deco Coulter's Department Store once stood. Coulter's was torn down around 1980, and a large, empty pit wound up sitting there FOR 29 YEARS as a result.

And then there's the sad case of downtown's Philharmonic Auditorium, also known as "Trinity Auditorium" and "Clune's Auditorium." (Above, in its early years; and below, after a later makeover.)



Built in 1906, the one-time home to the L.A. Philharmonic was torn down in 1985 to make room for... well, no one seems to even remember anymore, but it was likely for a office building that was never built. Here's some background from Wikipedia:

In 1906, Hazard's Pavilion was demolished to make way for a new Temple Auditorium. The architect, Charles E. Whittlesey, and civil engineer, C. R. Harris, created a building with a Spanish Gothic exterior and a vast auditorium with a simplified Art-Nouveau interior influenced by Louis Sullivan's Chicago Auditorium. This was the largest reinforced concrete structure with the only cantilevered balcony in the world. It had the largest stage west of New York when it was completed, and it seated 2,600 people. A nine story office block and retail shops were part of the complex.

For a number of years during the 1910s, Billy Clune would show silent films in the auditorium, then called, "Clune's Auditorium." The landmark film, Birth of a Nation, had its world premiere at Clune's Auditorium on its way to becoming a massive blockbuster.

When the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra began its second season in 1920, it adopted Clune's Auditorium as its home, which became known as, "Philharmonic Auditorium." The Orchestra played there for many decades before the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion was built in 1963.

So now, for the past 25 years, rather than getting a view of some cool old art deco building, folks facing that direction from Pershing Square get an eyeful of... parking lot.

The new "Park Fifth" development was finally, finally going to right that wrong and at least bring something *other* than a parking lot to the site. But the recession has now put those plans on hold... and so the years keep ticking by.

The L.A. Times writes about several more empty lots and vacant buildings in Los Angeles, as the economic downturn puts plans on hold:

Scattered around town are some surprisingly valuable vacant lots disguised by weeds or broken blacktop or the remains of an unwanted building -- and many have quietly come to market, thanks to the real estate collapse.

Billions of dollars were lost by developers who bought land to build high-profile projects but weren't able to get their plans off the ground, even after spending lavishly on architectural designs and other measures to get their buildings approved by local officials. As the real estate cycle plays out, the pained exit of ambitious builders has created an unusual abundance of opportunities to buy expensive eyesores.

Read more at the L.A. Times here.

(Just a few weeks ago we wrote about the empty pit across the street from City Hall, where the California State Building once stood. But at least that structure was torn down because of earthquake damage, not some misguided attempt to replace the old with the new.)

Photos via ulwaf.com and uncanny.net.

Ironic Photo of the Day: Recession Over? Um, Not Quite

Spotted in Larchmont Village: The boutique Lux shows signs of optimism that the recession is over (or, perhaps, is just trying to will it into being). But next door, the "For Lease" sign demonstrates the reality.

More Independent Store Closings: Atwater Village's Under the Table

(Flickr pic by Atwater Village Newbie.)

The recession continues to hit the mom-and-pop boutiques across the city -- with several stores of Northeast Los Angeles set to shut down in the coming days.

We mentioned the other day how Eagle Rock's Rockin Kid Shop is closing down any day now.

Over in Atwater Village, where boutique Amelia Fitzwater shut down last summer, the shop Under the Table is now closing as well.

Connected to the Black Maria Gallery, Under the Table began in 2007 as a way to sell extra art work from their gallery -- but soon expanded to include a wide array of works and collectibles.

We've also spotted several items on sale there from pals JustJenn and Emmie.

Sadly, in this economy, small stores with high-end -- and high-priced -- merchandise are finding things extra difficult. Under the Table is currently selling select items at 50% off.

Black Maria Gallery/ Under the Table (while it lasts)
3137 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, Calif. (Atwater Village)

Honey, the LAT Shrunk the Comics, Part II: The Cartoonists Respond

Cartoonists are taking the Los Angeles Times' shrinking comic strips in stride, noting that it's better than the alternative -- losing carriage of their strip all together.

It kind of reminds me of what I tell people these days when they ask me about my job. I usually answer something to the effect of, "Hey, it's just nice to be working."

It's true -- I toil in the print media, which is not exactly a growth industry. I'm sure many of you answer that question in the same exact way.

That's why I wasn't too surprised to find that cartoonists are resigned to shrinking reality of newspaper comic strips. Cartoonists have been complaining about the trend for years, as their work gets harder and harder to read -- but these days, as newspapers as a whole continue to get smaller, they're just happy to still get published anywhere.

I asked "Candorville" creator Darrin Bell and "La Cucaracha" creator Lalo Alcaraz -- both based in Los Angeles -- to weigh in on the changes.

"Tonight I was laughing at myself about this very thing," Alcaraz wrote me. "Sure, the comics pages are shrunk, and damn, the Sundays look almost the size of dailies, but... the whole paper is shrinking. It's comforting that we notice the comics first, God bless us everyone! But now the LA Times is the size of the Long Beach Press Telegram.

"I did turn in a daily gag about the comics shrinking, it's pretty much mandatory for cartoonists to note this long running development. It should run next week.

"On the bright side, I haven't been shrunk out of the paper."

Bell, meanwhile, said he was being realistic:

"I'd love it if they could run my work 8" across, but the reality is papers are struggling to survive, newsprint costs a fortune, and if it's a choice between dropping more content (which'll alienate readers) and shrinking the content they have, they've made the right choice. I'm hoping the iPad takes off, every newspaper eventually moves to that kind of platform and then this won't be an issue anymore. But for now, I have no problem with them choosing to shrink content to save it. On the bright side, this should be a boon to the magnifying glass industry."

Both "Candorville" and "La Cucaracha" were briefly dropped, and then reinstated, by the LAT during an earlier comic strip switcheroo. (BTW, yes, the strips above have been extremely shrunk down for dramatic effect. It's actually not as bad as what you see above. Or, at least, not quite.)

As for that massive house ad that has now been slapped in the middle of the LAT comics page, it finally dawned on me why it's there (as opposed to, say, new comics): It's gotta be a placeholder for an ad -- they're gonna try to sell a strip ad in the middle of the comics!

RELATED: Honey, the LAT Shrunk the Comics -- I Mean, REALLY Shrunk the Comics

Retro Friday: Then-Gov. Jerry Brown Addresses Prop. 13

Ahh, Prop. 13. Great for the folks back then. Not so much for our generation. Those of us who bought homes this decade pay extraordinarily more in property taxes than people with much bigger homes and lot sizes -- but who were old enough to be able to buy their land years earlier.

Here's audio from then-Gov. Jerry Brown, soon after Prop. 13 passed in 1978, discussing the fiscal belt-tightening that would now have to take place in California.

Crazy Gideon No Longer Stacking Them Deep and Selling Them Cheap

What's an insomniac to do? Long a staple of late, late, late night local TV, downtown electronics retailer "Crazy Gideon" -- full name Gideon Kotzer -- is officially retiring. I first heard the news several weeks ago, when Gideon called into KROQ's "Kevin & Bean" show. Now, it's official.

The Downtown News has the details:

The Downtown electronics retailer, famous for the wacky commercials where he smashes TVs to show how crazy he is for having such low prices, has put his 39,000-square-foot Arts District building up for lease. He plans on closing his store for good, possibly as early as the end of this year.

“The economy is really bad. I’ve been carrying this place for six months,” Gideon Kotzer said.

Kotzer still has about $1 million of inventory to sell before he can close, and his store’s website is announcing a going out of business sale with discounts of up to 70% off. Kotzer said he could possibly sell out of inventory by the end of the year.

While Crazy Gideon’s always seems to be in the midst of some kind of going-out-of-business promotion, the fact that the building is being marketed could make this different. The three-story building at 830 Traction Ave. is being listed by Major Properties.

Let's hope another eccentric local retailer takes on the late-late-late night advertising baton.

L.A.-Centric Documentary Back on PBS, But Not KCET

PBS nationally this Tuesday is rebroadcasting the documentary Made in L.A. -- although you're gonna have to struggle to find it here in Los Angeles (title be damned).

The documentary, which was is bilingual in both English and Spanish, centers on three Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles sweatshops. More:

The trio embark on a three-year odyssey to win basic labor protections from a trendy clothing retailer. "When we started this film, we did not anticipate that the garment workers' campaign would take three years and that the story would take a deeper turn," says director Almudena Carracedo.

"Struggles cause people to change, and we were amazed to observe each woman's growing sense of self-confidence and self-worth," she continues. "The boycott campaign served as a catalyst for each of them, in her own way, to stand up, to say, 'I exist. And I have rights.' " Compelling, humorous and deeply human, Made in L.A. is a story about immigration, the power of unity, and the courage it takes to find your voice.

Made in L.A. was recently awarded the prestigious Hillman Prize for Broadcast Journalism, was nominated for the National Council of La Raza's Alma Award, and was screened by leaders on Capitol Hill. Community, faith-based and student organizations are currently screening Made in L.A. around the country to highlight sweatshop issues and put a human face on the immigration debate.

Here in Los Angeles, none of the local PBS stations is carrying "Made in L.A." -- but one of KCET's digital subchannels -- available over-the-air if you've got an antenna for your digital TV -- is. KCET World (Channel 28.4) will air "Made in L.A." on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and again at 12:30 a.m. that night, as well as at noon on Aug. 16.

UPDATE: KCET let us know that "Made in L.A." will air on the station on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 9 p.m. as part of its Hispanic Heritage Month programming.

"Maybe It's Time California Got Over Itself"

Tough love from Hoover Institution research fellow Bill Whalen, who writes in the San Francisco Chronicle that we Californians have got to stop thinking of ourselves as anything special:

For too long, the Golden State - and by this I'd include both its elected officials and the people who put them in office - has failed to cope with the present, hasn't adequately planned for the future, and has obsessed far too much over its gilded past. Because we're a nation-state, with one-eighth the nation's population and a world-class economy, the assumption is California is "special."

Granted, we have qualities many other states lack: Silicon Valley's instant wealth, Hollywood's instant celebrity. But in many other respects, we're no different than the rest of America. At least 38 other states have imposed budget cuts that severely impact vulnerable citizens, according to the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Nationwide, 14 states are facing 2010 budget gaps that exceed 20 percent of their gross domestic product. California was one of eight states that had an unemployment rate of more than 11 percent in June.

So much for California dreamin'.

Is It That Time of the Year Already? Pledge Week Returns to KCRW

The KCRW semi-annual pledge drive is once again underway. I usually donate money to the station during its August drive, and so I'll be glued to the station all weekend, waiting for the right moment to phone in my donation.

As I've written in the past, maximizing your pledge premiums from KCRW is an artform. Every year, I manage to not only score a meal for my effort, but I also land a year-long subscription to Newsweek.

Here's what I wrote in 2006:

Under KCRW's new computerized pledge system, phone line volunteers can't offer you a premium unless it has been mentioned on air -- and you may be waiting a while for the DJs to mention a $50 premium. What's more, the free "bonus premiums" -- think subscriptions to Newsweek or Los Angeles magazine, or gift certificates to places like Baja Fresh -- only pop up every once in a while.

It's even more rare for both opportunities to pop up at the same time. I spent a good deal of the weekend phoning the KCRW volunteers and asking them (a) If a free bonus premium was available at the moment and (b) if any $50 premiums were available beyond the standard single CD.

I came close several times: Saturday afternoon, KCRW was offering a $50 gift certificate for Jody Maroni sausage (for a $50 pledge! not bad), but the only bonus premium was a year's subscription to "Wine Spectator" magazine. Sunday morning, the station was offering a $50 gift certificate to Storyopolis children's book store -- but no bonus premium.

Finally, at 4:55 -- right at the end of "The A-Track" -- I hit gold. Not only was KCRW offering a year's subscription to Newsweek as a bonus premium (which I have now scored for the past three years), but for $50, I landed dinner for two at California Canteen.

In recent years, I've given in and moved up to a $75 pledge -- the $50 level just doesn't offer much of anything, save a single CD or t-shirt, anymore.

Even California Drivers Licenses Aren't Immune to Budget Cuts

I recently visited the DMV to renew my drivers license in person for the first time since 1996. (Apparently it dawned on them that I don't look 22 anymore... and I sure as hells aren't 155 pounds anymore.)

The license arrived in the mail today... and it's flimsy. Much thinner laminated card stock is now being used by the state for licenses, compared to the last one I received several years ago. My punch card from Baja Fresh (I'm sooo close to a free entree!) is more durable than this new license.

But alas, it's just the sign of the times. Check out your Newsweek or Entertainment Weekly -- thinner paper stock. Newspapers are smaller. Everyone's saving money by cutting back.

R.I.P., Radio & Records

Another publication bites the dust. Radio & Records -- better known as "R&R" -- covered both the radio business and the music industry... and let's face it, that's a double whammy, given how poor a shape both are in. So it's probably no surprise that R&R's days were numbered.

Owner Nielsen -- which also publishes the music industry bible Billboard -- finally cut the cord on Wednesday. But they were pretty harsh about it: Rather than at least let the publication's web site sit there long enough for staffers to say goodbye, or for readers to use it as an archival tool, Nielsen yanked the site immediately. In other words, R&R has already been scrubbed off the Internet. Instead, users are redirected straight to Billboard's home page.

Kind of a slap in the face to the once-proud R&R brand. Radio & Records was founded in 1973 and purchased by Nielsen (then VNU) in 2006, when it was merged with Billboard Radio Monitor. Meanwhile, sites such as All Access and Radio-Info continue to offer radio news... but the death of R&R silcenes one of the industry's biggest news and information sources.